Wednesday 14th September 2011

Windows 8 introduces several new features that enable PC makers to build compelling systems that are fast, fun, secure, power efficient and connect to devices customers care about. This session will provide an overview of the Windows 8 touch, graphics, power, bus, sensor, networking and hardware-based security investments and provide pointers to sessions that go into depth on each area.

Windows 8 marks the next step in the evolution of the Metro design style. Through the bold use of color, typography and motion, Metro design style brings a fresh new approach to user experience. In this talk, Director of User Experience Design and Research, Sam Moreau will share the design principles behind Metro and provide insights for how to apply these principles in apps that you build.

This session will introduce the next release of Windows Server, code-named Windows Server “8”. We will talk about the engineering investments we have done in this release along with their benefits. We will also point out opportunities for developers and hardware partners to expand on the new capabilities in the product. This session will include lots of demos illustrating how Windows Server 8 lets our customers and partners move beyond virtualization and embrace a truly cloud optimized OS.

Windows 8 comes with a brand new Metro style app experience where native developers and designers can work in parallel. Ones in behavioral aspects and the others in UI. This talk offers an end-to-end view of the developer experience for this kind of app, from the solution creation to the marketplace publication.

Windows 8 introduces a number of new touch experiences and capabilities. This session will provide an overview of how to build and test great touch systems running Windows 8. You will learn about the Windows 8 user experience and certification requirements, new tools for validating and measuring the touch user experience on different hardware platform, as well as considerations for overall system integration.

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) mode and Secure Boot are critically important to creating a more secure platform. This session will discuss the benefits of UEFI, including key features of Windows 8 that depend on UEFI, such as BitLocker and Seamless Boot. This session also will cover technical details of UEFI and updates to ACPI requirements.

Windows 8 runs efficiently on a broader range of systems. This session will cover how to create high-performance and energy efficient experiences on the full spectrum of Windows 8 platforms. You will learn software design and development practices that maximize the performance of apps and power consumption as a whole. We will also discuss how the Windows team approaches development to scale across systems and how you can apply the same techniques to your software and drivers.

Windows 8 makes it easy to build an app that brings out the unique capabilities of your camera. In this session you will learn how to build a Metro style device app that is automatically installed with the camera. This session will also cover how developers can use Windows APIs to bring branded video and photo capabilities to their own Metro style apps.

Windows 8 is the PC-reimagined. Its rich, powerful file system is available to all Metro style apps. Come find out more about the file landscape! This talk will give you an overview of the various file mechanisms available in Windows 8, the details behind them, and their intended purpose. Learn how to integrate local and web data seamlessly into your apps using the Windows 8 platform. This talk will include specific examples and information to help you build great Metro style apps!

In Windows 8, the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) has evolved through several innovations in the graphics sub-system that will enable you to deliver great Windows user and developer experiences. This session will cover how to design and build Windows 8 systems with WDDM capable hardware and drivers.

What's cooler than connecting two machines together by tapping them? Leveraging the power of Near Field Communication (NFC) and the new "tap & go" gesture built into Windows 8, you can build powerful new social apps that enable entirely new scenarios your customers have only dreamed of.

Connectivity is the underpinning of today’s computing experience. Windows 8 introduces many new features and experiences that will make it easier to get and stay connected on Wi-Fi and mobile broadband networks. This session will provide an overview of the Windows 8 connectivity investments and experiences, including plan selection, over-the-air provisioning, account management, intelligent network selection and network-aware app behavior.

Your customers will expect your app to deliver a continuous experience even as they switch between apps and move between their devices. Come learn how to ensure your customers never lose their place in your app even when it is moved to the background or accessed on a new device. You will also discover how to enable customers to personalize your app with settings and ensure those settings flow automatically to all of their devices. We will show you how you can enable this continuous, cloud-powered experience with only a few lines of code.

Windows 8 introduces a new and ready-to-use set of user interface controls to help create beautiful Metro style apps quickly. Learn about these powerful and highly-flexible controls and how to use them to implement the common patterns that deliver great Windows 8 Metro style apps.

In today’s highly connected world, your customers want their apps to connect them with friends, content and information wherever they are, but current networks make this hard. Work networks have proxies that block your connections; wireless networks have usage, overage and roaming costs that can lead to severe bill shock; and improper handling of security, IPv6 and network glitches can cause frustration with your app. Come learn how Windows 8 makes it easy for your app to work across networks and deliver a consistent and compelling experience, which will delight your customers.

Microsoft has made significant investments in Windows 8 to improve the end-to-end experience for partners when creating hardware offerings. This session will provide an overview of modern engineering tools and systems, and associated lifecycles, for developing hardware add-ons for Windows. This will include an overview on design principles, driver development tools, assessment and certification tools, as well as discussion on vehicles for customer and partner connection.

Do you want to build an app that takes a photo through the PC’s camera for a profile pic? Do you want your app to be aware of its current location or enable device proximity scenarios? Do you want customers to rave about how your app uses the files, pictures, videos, and docs from the file system? Windows 8 has a declarative capability model that allows apps to access the PC resources they require. Come learn how to build on it.

In Windows 8, Microsoft introduces Connected Standby - a new power state that enables compatible PCs to be always reachable and up-to-date. This session will provide an overview of Connected Standby, including key user scenarios, system architecture and technical requirements.

In this talk, Microsoft's C++ architect and chair of the ISO C++ standards committee Herb Sutter will showcase upcoming innovations in Visual C++ that show the Windows Runtime as a core part of native development. Windows 8 comes packed with rich APIs that are all Windows Runtime based, and C++ continues to deliver the tools you need to achieve the power and performance you have come to expect. Join us for a technical session that will serve as an overview of the new C++ programming model for the Windows Runtime and a prerequisite to other C++ sessions.

Games are undoubtedly one of the most popular style of apps with users today and one of the largest money makers as well! If you have ever thought of writing a game, this session is for you! Windows 8 offers an end-to-end platform for developing games. Come to this session to learn how Windows 8 enables you to build engaging, profitable, connected games that can play on a myriad of form factors.

Windows 8 makes TPM hardware based security easy by automatically provisioning the TPM and providing new APIs and features. This session describes how customers benefit from having a system with a TPM and how to build Windows 8 apps that work with different TPM hardware.

Great devices that delight users and work well with Windows are the result of thoughtful design. This session will discuss various elements device developers need to consider when designing devices and drivers. Elements covered will include best practices, taking advantage of new features in Windows 8, and designing driver interfaces.

The world of System on Chip (SoC) has changed the way devices are connected inside a PC. Windows 8 introduces support for low-power internal buses such as I2C, SPI, GPIO, and High Speed UARTs. In this session, we will demonstrate the end-to-end story on how to integrate a device on the new buses and create a driver. You will learn how to write ACPI to enumerate your peripheral and get started writing and testing a peripheral driver.

Windows 8 is designed to provide a connected experience to users on a broad range of device form factors. In order to get and keep users connected to the Internet, the Windows team has made significant investments in mobile broadband and connection management. This session will cover purchasing and provisioning mobile broadband data plans, network cost awareness, and leveraging the in-box class driver for mobile broadband devices.

Thursday 15th September 2011

Animations are fundamental in making Metro style apps lively and beautiful. Discover the animation library in Windows 8 and see how to bring these great animations to your apps with standard CSS 3.0 transitions and animations. In this session, you will learn how using standard templates and controls bring these polished animations along for free. You will also explore the library and learn how to add these smooth and elegant animations and transitions from the Windows 8 personality to your app’s experience!

In this talk, Technical Fellow Anders Hejlsberg will share project plans for the future directions of C# and Visual Basic, including a discussion of what trends are influencing and shaping the direction of programming languages. Anders will talk about asynchronous programming and Windows 8 programming, coming in the next version of Visual Studio. He will also discuss the long-lead project “Roslyn”, including object models for code generation, analysis, and refactoring, and upcoming support for scripting and interactive use of C# and Visual Basic.

Build great touch apps for Windows 8 using XAML touch and gesture events. Learn how to create touch experiences using standard controls and behaviors and build highly responsive panning and zooming capabilities that customers will love. This session will also describe how to include mouse interaction with no additional work, and how to handle multiple types of input in a unified way.

With throughput up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and improved power management, USB 3.0 is the latest release of the world’s most popular PC interface. In this talk, you will learn how USB 3.0 is integrated into Windows 8 and hear Microsoft’s recommendations and requirements for taking advantage of this new technology.

Windows 8 is designed to provide a connected experience to users on a broad range of device form factors. In order to get and keep users connected to the Internet, the Windows team has made significant investments in Wi-Fi connectivity. This session will cover new Windows 8 Wi-Fi functionality, as well as improvements in connection times and power consumption.